---
layout: docs
page_title: Upgrade Vault
description: >-
  General guidance for upgrading a single Vault instance.
---

# Upgrade Vault

Vault supports in-place upgrades and automatically handles most tasks when you
unseal Vault after the upgrade.

<Tip title="Upgrading from Community to Enterprise edition">

  If you plan to move from Vault Community to Vault Enterprise during your
  upgrade, make sure to download an enterprise binary and apply your
  [license file](/vault/api-docs/system/license#install-license) during the
  upgrade.

</Tip>

## Before you start

- **You must have `sudo` permissions on the Vault server**. Make sure you have
  can install binaries on the Vault server.
- **You must have admin permissions for Vault**. Make sure you can stop and 
  start the Vault process.
- **Identify unseal candidates**. Identify and notify enough people with unseal
  shards to meet the unseal threshold after restart.

## Basic upgrade process

To perform an in-place upgrade of a single Vault instance:

1. Back up your Vault data. Vault does not make backward-compatibility
   guarantees for the Vault data store and the upgrade process may make changes
   to the data store.

1. Back up your current Vault configuration.

1. Review recent [deprecation notices](/vault/docs/updates/deprecation). If you
   use deprecated or ended functionality, make a plan to move away from those
   features before upgrading.

1. Use the doc version selector to review the
   [important changes](/vault/docs/updates/important-changes) for each major
   version between your current version and the upgrade target.

1. Perform any prerequisites noted in the important changes documentation.

1. Use `SIGINT` or `SIGTERM` to shut down Vault.

    <Tabs>
    
    <Tab heading="Bash">

    ```shell-session
    $ kill <vault_pid>
    ```
    
    </Tab>
    
    <Tab heading="Powershell">
    
    ```powershell
    Stop-Process <vault_pid>
    ```

    </Tab>
    
    </Tabs>

1. [Install the latest version of Vault](/vault/docs/get-vault) over your
   existing instance.

1. Start Vault.

1. Verify the current version:

    ```shell-session
    $ vault status | grep Version
    ```

1. Unseal Vault.

1. Test the upgrade. The best way to test an upgrade is to take a snapshot of
   the Vault data store after upgrading and load the backup into a test instance.
   
<Warning title="Isolate your test instance">

If you use Vault to coordinate secrets with third party resources (cloud
credentials, database credentials, etc.) make sure you isolate the test
instance from external network connectivity during testing. Isolating the test
instance prevents it from trying to revoke 3rd party resources. Otherwise, the
third party resource credentials may expire and prevent access from the
production cluster.

</Warning>


## Additional resources

<Tabs>

<Tab heading="Guides">

- [Upgrade Vault plugins](/vault/docs/plugins/upgrade/)
- [Upgrade Vault Agent](/vault/docs/agent-and-proxy/upgrade)

</Tab>

<Tab heading="Tutorials">

- [Automate upgrades with Vault Enterprise](/vault/tutorials/raft/raft-upgrade-automation)

</Tab>

</Tabs>
